HARRISBURG (AP) – PA lawmakers are back in session, as House Democrats advanced a spending plan that could test Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro’s ability to manage a politically divided Legislature. House Democrats unveiled and passed a spending plan that goes well beyond what Shapiro proposed for the fiscal year starting July 1. It passed on a party-line vote, 102-101. Democrats want to spend more money for public schools and say strong tax collections this spring will support it. However, it’s likely to get a chilly reception in the Republican Senate. There, GOP leaders were skeptical of Shapiro’s more modest spending proposal, citing forecasts of slowing tax collections, deficits, and possibly a recession. The Independent Fiscal Office projects that PA is returning to its long-term pattern of deficits now that federal pandemic aid has been spent and inflation-juiced tax collections subside.
